Super Talking Time Princess
Level Submissions How to solve the System Tray/Audio Codec/Gradual Slowdown bug in SMBX Don't forget, SMBX defaults to your system codec for its audio. For a lot of you, it'll be something like FFDShow, and it can usually be found in your system tray while in use. So you need to adjust your codec in its control panel to run only one multiple instance, or disable multiple instances altogether, depending on which option doesn't cut off various sound effects while playing SMBX. Otherwise it will flood your tray and eventually slow down your system or crash. Once you apply this fix, quit SMBX and wait for your tray to clear out before launching it again, just so you can be sure it's taking effect. Plot Princess Peach crashes on an island, learns from the Yoshi's who live there that she resembles the legendary hero from the sky who will save them, and also there just so happens to be a warp pipe back to the Mushroom Kingdom hidden somewhere on the island, so she sets out to rescue herself, as well as save the island from its mysterious calamity. The rest of the plot currently in development! Game Design The only playable character of this project will be Princess Peach. As such, all levels should be designed, tested, and playable with her in mind. World Map: The world map will return, but this time, we're aiming to take a more nonlinear approach. After the first world is completed, the player will be free to choose from two, three, and four in any order they so choose. After these are cleared, the player will be free to travel to the "final" fifth world and, eventually, the true final sixth world. The sixth world will be accessed by finding a seperate set of Star npcs hidden in each of the main worlds. Cohesion: We're aiming to make the stages and the game as a whole feel a bit more cohesive and consistent this time around. We want the levels to build off of each other. Which means that gimmicks or concepts introduced early on in the game should be used again in increasingly trickier situations later in the game, and the levels in a world should share a similar graphical theme where possible. Thus, collaberation with your fellow developers is extermely crucial in this project. Difficulty: We're shooting for roughly STTB2 levels of challenge here, easy to pick up and play for non-Peach players. The non-linear aspect may make this a bit tricky to balance, but assume a more exploratory and stylistic approach to level design than a challenge-oriented one. Keep length to a minimum - levels over 2 minutes long are stretching it. Level Limit: If too many stages are made for a particular world then we WILL decide on which ones will be cut, we won't be letting the game bloat like STTB2.5 did. Don't let that get you down though: Put forth a lot of effort on one amazing level than 6 good ones. Development Kit A simple kit can be found attached here. The npcs and background objects needed for the Level Exits should already be placed in the PeachBeta folder so that they may be used in every level. The Resources & Music folders contains the default MP3s and graphics that will be used in the game. Level Exits The devkit comes with leveltemplate.lvl in the episode's folder, which contains the level exit we'll be using for the game. To save yourself time and trouble when creating a new level, open the template level, click Save, and rename it as your new level. This way you have the custom exit already implemented. The exit can be found in Section 21, and can be moved about where you like with SMBX's cloning function: Under "Level Settings" click the "Advanced" tab. This will let you clone one section of a level to another. Because the level end events use certain graphics and NPCs to operate, the following backgrounds and npcs will thus be unavailable for use in stages: -SMB3 'Battle' Background -SMB1 Giant Castle -SMB3 Black Zigzag -Zelda Heart Piece You can alter the background objects that are on-screen at the level exit, the waterfall and pillars should always be present for consistency but anything else can be added as long as they are put on the Goal layer. See Seaside Shenanigans for an example of something slightly different. Potion Doors This game plans on featuring Potion Doors more prominently. In-game, they are portals to closed-off areas of the temple you will enter at the end of the game; in a icy, frozen state. Here, you can hide secrets like Dragon Coins, 1ups, Hammer Suits, Boots, a Secret Exit, or anything you can think of. Potion Doors can be a bit tricky to use in SMBX because of how they correspond to the same X-Y coordinates as the section you're warping to. And because of the Clone function's tendency to throw off the grid you use for placing blocks. Refer to the following tutorial on how to avoid such problems. To be safe, always save your level before trying to use a Potion. There should be a regular door in each ice area to lead back to the main level, since it's possible for the Potion npc to not work and leave you trapped. SMBX: Potion Doors Graphics Pack At this point we have a healthy collection of home-grown custom graphics already, but some levels need that little extra oomph. Thankfully, the last remnants of the SMBX community have put out an enormous custom graphics pack that contains virtually anything we could want when building a level. It's over 100 megs! Currently, it is available from the official mirror: The SMBX CGFX Pack 3.1 Deadline The current deadline for Level Submissions is set for March 3rd, 2014. Rules *Peach is the only playable character, but don't forget to place the P2 start positions regardless. *For this project, there will be a set number of level slots in each world to which any developer may submit a level. *Each developer may only submit one level per slot. Whichever level is deemed the best fit, will be chosen for the game. You can rework, remake, or otherwise modify a submission as you see fit up until the deadline. *World 6 levels (The Sky) won't be accepted or looked at until the rest of the game is filled with levels first. *You're allowed to use custom graphics as you see fit as long as they fit with the overall theme of the game. There are tilesets in the DevKit that are intended to be the "Default" set, and to serve as an example of what kind of graphics are appropriate. Think Super Mario Land 2 or Super Mario World - more on the cartoonish side. Since SpoonyBard is in charge of how the game will look, ask him if you aren't sure. *If you are working together with a partner, don't make modifications without the permission of the other party. Take turns passing the level around, or plan what to do between yourselves. *When saving your level, use this format: World#-yourname-levelname.lvl *If a collab level, use this format:' 'World#-devname1/devname2-levelname.lvl *Don't create clutter by using different file names for incremental updates. Simply provide a new version to overwrite the previous one. You should only change a level's file name if the name of the level itself has changed. *When you compress your files into a .zip, please only zip these contents: Level File, Level Folder, and any MP3s. Don't compress a master folder which contains the files - compress them seperately! *'Don't use Leaves or Tanooki Suits'. Flight is to be played down to emphasize Peach's float ability. *Peach can't ride Yoshi. So don't use Yoshi! *Treat Hammer Suits like a Starman powerup'' instead of a game-breaking item. Peach's version of the suit is a bit watered down. Therefore, they ought to be more plentiful across the game. *Be aware that Mushrooms (or other npcs) that fall into lava while offscreen will cause a Divide by Zero error and crash the game. So don't let it happen! *The same goes for Piranha Plants in useable pipes. The same error can occur in rare circumstances, but let's avoid it entirely by not putting plants in warp pipes. *The Level Exit we are using is somewhat complicated, and would be time consuming to implement yourself. Refer to the '''Level Exits' header above. *There must be one (and only one) level with a secret exit per world. *The Key and Keyhole will be used for secret exits. They should be resprited as a Golden Egg and Doorway. *Each level must have a checkpoint. *'The game can only support one checkpoint per level.' So only use one, dummy! *All levels should be possible to beat without taking a hit. *Pipe warps should be set to allow NPCs through them. Doors be set to not do so. *Never leave the player trapped with no means to progress. *Water must be swimmable. Waterfalls must NOT be swimmable. Use them for decoration instead! *No full-on water levels. In addition, try to avoid long stretches of swimming, as Peach swims extermely slowly. *Do not use SMB3 Lakitu. He works on a more sophisticated AI and is very difficult to dodge. *'Every level must contain Dragon Coins'. You may have a minimum of 5, and a maximum of 7. Try to make these the primary means of getting lives, or through enemy combos. *1up mushrooms should be a bit more difficult to get in this game than in past installments. Either harder to reach, or trickier to find. We want to make these more valuable then they have been. *'Buried' npcs are to be featured as a prominent mechanic due to the use of Potion Doors. Mushrooms of any kind that are buried should be set to Don't Move. *Each world should end with a unique boss fight, and the checkpoint should always be before the boss.